I arrived in Tegucigalpa yesterday, Thursday, August 18, after prompt and unremarkable flights. Almost immediately upon arriving I began to experience the grace and generosity of the body of Christ at Union Christian Church.
Gathered to receive me were an elder and his wife who had been assigned or volunteered to fetch me at the airport. With them was Fabio, a bilingual Honduran member of the congregation, who came for no other reason than to welcome me to the country and the church. That was moving.
We lunched and then made our way to the church and then to the house where we will be staying until we find a place of our own. This home is another act of generosity that makes the transition less stressful. With the house came a freezer stocked with enough dinner to keep me well fed until Debbie and Ellyn arrive and maybe beyond. Included were mountains of chocolate chip cookies. This simple act of kindness is compounded in significance when you realize that chocolate chips are expensive here (if you can find them at all) leading many North Americans here to request visitors to bring them and hoard what they have. Yet more grace. We have also been blessed with the temporary use of a car and a cell phone. We will, of course, need to procure our own in time, but having them available so soon again eases the transition.
Shortly before I left the states I received word of generous gifts from our family at Racine Bible Church. We thank you for how you are already partnering with us to continue the work of the ministry.
Some might dismiss these acts as logical ways to ease a transition to a new place or to express support of a long time associate. I suppose. But the depth of feeling and extent of generosity, to my mind, bear fingerprints divine not merely human.
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